The stamping industry is divided into two distinct fields: the art stamping field and the industrial stamping field. In the industrial field, the impression to be formed usually comprises a single word or phrase formed in a single color. The paramount considerations in the design and manufacture of industrial ink stamps and related items are durability, consistency, and ease of use. The quality of ink impression, the flexibility of the ink stamp, and the ability to form ink impressions comprised of a plurality of colors are of minimal importance.
In the art stamping field, on the other hand, the goal is to form an artistic image. Therefore, the quality of the ink impression, flexibility of the stamping apparatus, and ability to form multicolor images are highly valued. Considerations of durability and ease of use are important, after aesthetic considerations.
Given the different goals underlying the use of ink stamps in the art stamping field and in the industrial stamping field, most products designed for use in one field are not appropriate for use in the other field. This division between the two stamping fields is accentuated by the difference in the marketing and distribution channels for the two sets of products: art stamping supplies are usually sold through art, hobby supply, or gift stores, while industrial stamping supplies are usually available in office supply outlets.
The present invention is particularly effective when used in the field of art stamping. As briefly mentioned above, in the art stamping field it is highly desirable to form a single image ink impression in which the ink impression comprises two or more colors.
The transfer of ink to a rubber stamp to obtain such multi-colored ink impressions can be performed in two basic ways. First, single color ink pads may be consecutively brought into contact with specific portions of a rubber stamp to obtain a desired color configuration on the rubber stamp. This method is described, for example, in the Applicant's copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/224,071. Second, the ink pad itself may be made up of several colors of ink; the rubber stamp is brought into contact with the pad to transfer several colors of ink at one time. Examples of such multi-color ink pads are shown and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. Des. 331,418 and 4,817,526 issued to the present Applicant and commercially available from the Applicant under the trademark RUBBER STAMP PAINTBOX.
Ink pads have traditionally been supplied in single color configurations that comprise an ink-impregnated absorbent pad permanently glued onto a base and covered by a lid. These single color ink pads are traditionally rectangular but have been supplied in other configurations that enhance the end user's ability to apply ink onto the rubber stamp.
Multi-color ink pads are a more recent development and generally comprise a base, a number of discrete ink-impregnated absorbent pads permanently glued to the base at the factory, and a lid to cover the base. The discrete absorbent pads of the most popular ink pads are normally rectangular and are arranged edge to edge to form a rectangular inking surface. Some ink pads comprise discrete absorbent pads in shapes other than rectangular, although these ink pads having irregularly shaped absorbent pads are more limiting and not as popular as the rectangular ink pads.
Since approximately 1990, the Applicant of the present invention has produced and sold multi-color ink pads in which the colors in each of the ink pad configurations are coordinated and often arranged by theses such as "SPRING" or "CHRISTMAS". Many end users will collect several ink pad configurations and use the color configuration that is appropriate for a given ink image. Since their introduction, such ink pads have proven to be very successful in the marketplace and are currently available in dozens of color configurations. These ink pads are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. Des. 331,418.
The cleaning and re-inking of such multi-color ink pads is not easy because colors tend to smudge from one individual absorbent pad to the absorbent pad adjacent thereto. However, both end users and manufacturers of art stamping equipment have been generally satisfied with the state of the art of ink pad design.